Childminder in Kent

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 23/04/2014 01/05/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 4 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 The childminder builds sound relationships with the children, supporting their self- esteem and confidence.  The childminder works in partnership with the parents, sharing information to support children's individual care needs.  The childminder provides a variety of opportunities for children to socialise with other children at various groups, while benefitting from additional activities and experiences.

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It is not yet good because

 The information from observations is not always used effectively to plan next steps in children's learning to help them make consistently good progress.  Although suitable resources are accessible to children, these are not always stored effectively or organised to enable children to make informed choices to support their learning.  The childminder implements some hygiene procedures but children are not always encouraged to wash hands before eating to promote their self-care skills.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spent the majority of the inspection observing the childminder interacting with the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed documents and policies including children's assessment records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held regular discussions with the childminder throughout the inspection.

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Information about the setting

The childminder registered in 2011. She lives with her partner and young daughter in Larkfield, Aylesford, Kent. Most of the childminder's house is used for childminding, which includes a downstairs toilet. There is an enclosed garden for outside play. The family has fish in a tank.

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Information about the setting

The childminder is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. She works with an assistant, on occasions, and has four children in the early years age range on roll. She also cares for older children. The childminder offers care all year round.

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Information about the setting

The childminder walks or drives to local schools to take and collect children. She attends the local toddler group and a children's centre.

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must:

 use the information from the observations to plan next steps in children's learning, activities that meet children's individual interests, and provide challenging opportunities.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 arrange resources so that they are easily accessible and enable children to choose those that are relevant to their interests to support their learning

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 extend hygiene procedures so that young children learn about self-care and the importance of washing hands before they eat.

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who attend

The childminder has a sound understanding of the learning and development requirements. She provides a range of different experiences and activities for children at local toddler groups and soft play centres. In addition, she provides resources and toys for children at her home. Children play with the accessible resources but are not always sufficiently challenged or able to choose resources that meet their individual interests to sustain their attention. The childminder shows a sufficient awareness of children's likes and dislikes and carries out regular observations of children's learning. However, the information from these is not used consistently to inform the planning by identifying children's next steps in their development. Consequently, children have a short attention span because activities do not meet their interests or provide sufficient challenge. Parents are encouraged to share information about their children when they start with the

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who attend

childminder. They are kept informed about children's progress verbally and are shown the written observations. The progress check for children at age two is shared with the parents, who sign to acknowledge they have seen it. This helps parents to be involved in their children's learning and development.

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who attend

The childminder builds good relationships with the children and knows their individual characters well. She is aware of what they like to play with, although this is not always fully reflected in the accessibility of the toys. For example, arts and craft resources or mark making are not always accessible on a daily basis, preventing children making informed or preferred choices. Children are encouraged to take turns and share the toys and are beginning to develop co-operative play. For example, one child makes a cup of tea for another, or practises using the stethoscope on another child when they role-play being doctors.

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who attend

The childminder understands the importance of promoting communication and language and talks to the children all the time. She asks appropriate questions and often uses books to help children label objects or animals extending their vocabulary. Children are eager communicators and the childminder uses repetition to support children's understanding. For example, when children speak, the childminder will often repeat their phrase or sentence and add to it, promoting children's communication. However, opportunities to offer new or exciting words through play are not always introduced to ensure children make good progress in their communication and language skills.

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who attend

The childminder provides outdoor play generally on a daily basis, in addition to further physical play opportunities at different groups and soft play centres. As a result, children are confident to explore and attempt challenging physical activities. They demonstrate developing spatial awareness and have opportunities to develop their fine physical skills while turning pages of books, playing with the small cars and learning to eat with spoons and forks.

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who attend

Children show a real interest in books and this is fully supported by the childminder who reads with the children regularly. An assortment of books is always available and children have weekly visits to the library to look and share a further range and variety of books, both factual and fiction. Children show an interest in pictures of animals and a good vocabulary and recognition of the different animals. Through discussion about the pictures of the animals, children begin to use mathematical language. For example, they talk about the long neck on the giraffe, the big elephant and stripes on the zebra. The childminder counts during children's play, whether counting the cars or counting the grapes on their plate at snack time. She introduces nursery counting rhymes supporting children's sequencing of number. Children show enthusiasm listening to the children's songs on the compact disc, and happily join in with the actions, dancing around the room.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The childminder builds effective relationships with the children in her care enabling them to grow in confidence and develop their self-esteem. Consequently, children are settled and approach the childminder for reassurance, to share a picture in a book or to show her what they are doing. The childminder encourages parents to bring children for settling-in visits before they start to help children feel comfortable. These visits also enable the childminder to obtain information about the child to enable her to provide continuity of care and follow their care routine. Children are supported in learning to take turns and share the toys. The childminder encourages children to say sorry and to build relationships with each other. Children are developing their independence skills as they feed themselves at the table and, when potty-trained, have access to the toilet.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The childminder promotes healthy eating by providing children with freshly cooked home- made food. She ensures a balanced diet is offered with regular drinks in individual drink containers to help children recognise which one is theirs. Acceptable hygiene routines are in place for nappy changing, with the childminder wiping the changing mat after every child with antibacterial spray, to prevent any cross-infection. She washes her hands immediately after changing children and puts nappies in the bin. However, children are not fully encouraged to follow self-care routines such as washing hands before eating snacks or lunches, therefore, not fully supporting children's understanding and awareness of good hygiene routines.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The childminder puts measures in place to keep children safe within her home and when outside. For example, she implements a policy regarding children's safety in the sun and seeks parental permission to apply sun-cream. A sun canopy in the garden allows children to play outside, while being protected from the sun to promote their well-being. In addition, the childminder has a policy to ensure cameras and mobile phones are used appropriately in her home. All policies are shared with the parents to keep them informed of her practice. Children are reminded daily about keeping themselves safe, such as sitting on the chair properly at the table and not to climb on the settee in case they fall off. Harnesses are used on the booster seats and in the buggies to promote children's safety. In addition, the childminder uses reins when necessary, enabling children to begin to develop independence by walking.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children play with toys and resources that are well maintained and generally accessible. Children choose resources from a tub or storage boxes in addition to accessing the play kitchen. The childminder provides some additional resources to rotate toys and provide different opportunities. However, some children are unable to access some resources that meet their interests or provide them with the opportunity to fully extend and develop their learning, such as resources for drawing or writing, or for arts and crafts. As a result, some children do not engage fully and show a lack of concentration with those toys which are available to them.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The childminder understands the importance of sharing information with other providers although, at present, this is not relevant to the children attending. Written permission from parents is requested to share information and provide methods of ensuring continuity for the children. The childminder has a relevant knowledge about the skills children need to go to school, such as being independent. She encourages children to put on their own coats and to use the toilet and wash their hands. Children learn to use tissues for their noses and to eat their lunch independently. Children learn to sit and listen to stories and show enthusiasm when new activities are introduced.

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provision

The childminder has a sound understanding of her role and responsibilities to meet the requirements as set out in the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. She has made several improvements to her practice over the past year, after receiving two monitoring visits following her previous inspection. This has involved implementing two new policies to promote children's safety, both in the sun and from inappropriate use of cameras or mobile phones. In addition, the assistant has attended training to develop her understanding in the procedures to safeguard children. The childminder has taken appropriate action from her previous inspection and has made suitable improvements.

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provision

A safeguarding policy and procedure is in place and contains relevant information. Both the childminder and her assistant have completed on-line training to enable them to implement procedures to keep children safe, for example, through the implementation of new policies and recording visitors to the setting in the daily diary. The childminder and assistant both understand the procedures to follow if they have any concerns about children in their care. In addition, the childminder follows suitable recruitment processes to ensure that people working with the children are suitable. Appropriate risk assessments are in place to identify hazards within the home, the garden and on outings. The childminder puts measures in place to minimise these, such as gates on the stairs, locks on cupboards that contain harmful substances, and the sunshade in the garden. Consequently, children are kept safe in the care of the childminder.

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provision

The childminder has completed a basic self-evaluation of her service, although she has not fully identified some of the weaknesses. She has sought to monitor and evaluate her provision, although this has not been sufficiently robust to address all areas within her practice. Consequently, the weaknesses in learning and development have not been sufficiently addressed. Paperwork is accessible and the necessary documents are shared with parents, for example, written consents for aspects of care. In addition, the childminder seeks parental views by using a short questionnaire. Parents' comments are taken into account when planning further improvements for opportunities for the children.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY418304 Local authority Kent Inspection number 963409 Type of provision Childminder Registration category Childminder Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 5 Number of children on roll 6

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Telephone number

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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